The Syracuse Crunch came up short in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Toronto Marlies at Upstate Medical University Arena, a result that left Syracuse still searching for its first overtime win of the season after three tries.
Toronto needed only one minute of the extra frame to finish it off. Vinni Lettieri scored the winner on the man-advantage, ending a game that swung back and forth before the Crunch settled for a single standings point and a 5-6-3-0 record.
Ethan Gauthier was the bright spot for Syracuse, scoring twice to record his first multi-goal game since Feb. 6 against Belleville. Nick Abruzzese and Dominic James each picked up two assists in support of that effort.
Syracuse got the start it wanted early in the first period. On a power play at 2:32, James worked the puck from the high slot to Abruzzese, who quickly found Gauthier in the left circle for the opening goal. Toronto answered at 12:27 when Borya Valis wrapped the puck around the netminder and pushed it over the line to tie the game.
The Marlies moved in front in the second period with another power-play strike. At 12:29, Benoit-Olivier Groulx set up Lettieri in the left circle, and Lettieri buried the one-timer past Syracuse goaltender Olivier Rodrigue.
Syracuse responded fast in the third. Just 1:14 into the period, Gauthier finished a feed from James at the bottom of the left circle to even the score at 2-2 and send the game to overtime.
Special teams ended up making the difference. Toronto went 3-for-4 on the power play, while Syracuse finished 1-for-4. Rodrigue made 24 saves on 27 shots in the loss, and Artur Akhtyamov stopped 14 of 16 for Toronto.
The night also included two milestone appearances for Syracuse veterans: Steven Santini played in his 400th AHL game, and Matteo Pietroniro skated in his 200th AHL contest.
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For a Tampa Bay organization that wants its affiliate building good habits, the issue is less about effort than execution when games tighten up late. Syracuse has been in enough one-goal battles already to know the pattern, and this one followed the same script until Vinni Lettieri ended it in overtime for Toronto, leaving the Crunch at 5-6-3-0 and still searching for a way to turn close games into wins. [Read more 🡒]